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WASHINGTON OAK AT MOUNT VERNON. 



At a meeting of the Massachusetts Historical 
Society, held on Tlnirsday, May 11, 1905, Hon. Samuel 
A. Green made the followino; remarks : — 



•o 



In a letter from Washington printed in the Boston Evening 
Transcript, April 14, 1905, is an account of the planting of an 
oak last year, in the lawn near the west terrace of the White 
House, by President Roosevelt, assisted by Secretary Hitch- 
cock, a member of his Cabinet. The letter goes on to say that 
the tree was a lineal descendant of a native American oak 
which overshadowed the tomb of Washington at Mount Vernon ; 
and that acorns from this oak were sent to the Czar of Russia 
by Charles Sumner, while Senator from Massachusetts. The 
account furthermore stated that Mr. Hitchcock, who had pre- 
viously been the American Ambassador at the Court of St. 
Petersburg, had picked up a handful of acorns which he found 
under the tree, and sent them home. 

From the seed then planted six or weight years ago there 
came up a few oak saplings, of which one was the tree set out 
in the grounds of the White House ; and another was placed 
near its grandparent at Mount Vernon. In the interest of 
historical truth, I took the liberty to call the attention of Sec- 
retary Hitchcock to the fact that it was George Sumner, a 
younger brother of Charles, and not the Senator, who had 
given the acorn to the emperor. George Sumner was a 
member of the Historical Society, and his memoir, printed in 
the Proceedings (XVIII. 189-223), gives many details con- 
nected with this interesting episode. The incident may seem 
too trivial for serious notice, but a memorial tree, if it is to have 
any meaning, should be deeply rooted in truth and accuracy. 



In answer to my letter Secretary Hitchcock sent me a cour- 
teous reply, which brings the history of the Russian tree down 
practically to the jH'esent time, as follows : — 

Secretary's Office, Department of the Interior, 
Washington, D. C, April 'iO, iy05. 

Samuel A. Green, Esq., 

Librarian, Massachusetts Historical Society. 

Mr DEAR Sir, — I am this morning in receipt of yours of the 18th, 
and thank you for calling my attention to the letter printed in the 
Boston Transcript of April 14th, wherein it is stated, on ray authority, 
that Charles Sumner, while Senator from Massachusetts, sent to the 
Czar of Russia some acorns taken from a tree shadowing the tomb of 
AVashington, which statement you correct by referring me to a full 
account of the occurrence to be found in the Proceedings of the Massa- 
chusetts Historical Society, September, 1880 (XVHI. 194), for which 
I also thank you. 

In reply, I beg to say that I have obtained the volume above referred 
to, and have read with great interest the memoir of George Sumner, 
prepared by Mr. Robert C. Waterston, from which it would appear that 
the information heretofore given me to the effect that the acorns were 
sent by the late Hon. Charles Sumner to Russia was incorrect, but 
was deemed accurate by me in the absence of more detailed and specific 
information until the receipt of your letter this morning. 

As the incident referred to has found a place in the records of the 
Massachusetts Historical Society, it may not be inappropriate to bring 
the story up to date. 

While Ambassador at the Court of St. Petersburg, I inquired as to 
the location of an Oak tree whicli I had been informed had grown from 
an acorn which the Hon. Charles Sumner, while Senator of the United 
States, had sent by his brother to His Imperial Majesty, the Czar, the 
acorns sent by Mr. Sumner having been taken from a massive Oak 
shading the tomb of Washington at Mount Vernon. 

The memoir of George Sumner, to which you have kindly referred 
me, now furnishes me, for the first time, with a correct statement of the 
incident, but I would correct one of its statements to the effect that this 
Oak was planted near the cottage of Peter the Great, whereas the acorn 
from which it grew was planted on what is known as " Czarina Island," 
which is included in the superb surroundings of one of the palaces of 
His Majesty, near Peterhof. Suspended from the tree is a brass tablet 
bearing a Russian inscription, the translation of which is as follows: — 

The acorn planted here was taken from an Oak which shades the tomb 
of the celebrated and never to be forgotten Washington ; is presented to 
His Imperial Majesty, the Emperor of all the Russias, as a sign of the 
greatest respect. By an American. 



Authoi 
iPttmn) 

2Je'05 



I was fortunate at the time of my visit, whicti was in the fall of 1898, 
in finding a number of acorns on the ground that had been dropped 
from this historic tree. Gathering a handful, I sent them home, and 
secured from the seed thus planted a few Oak saplings, two of which 
were sent here from St. Louis, iu April, 1904, one of which was planted 
by President Roosevelt in the grounds of the White House near what is 
now the north gate of the eastern entrance opposite the Treasury build- 
ing, April 7, 1904, while the other was planted by myself under the 
shadow of its grandfather at Mount Vernon. Owing to climatic con- 
ditions at the time of the planting of these saplings, both the one 
planted by the President in the White House grounds and the other 
planted at Mount Vernon failed to live ; but on Friday last (April 14th) 
I received from my home at St. Louis another of these saplings, and 
on that date, planted it in the place of the one that had been planted 
by the President. Altogether, of the acorns sent from Russia, five 
sprouted and produced young Oak saplings. Two of them I had sent 
last year to my cottage at Dublin, New Hampshire, and I am pleased to 
say are growing nicely. One of these two, I will take to replace the 
one lost at Mount Vernon, and thus perpetuate, both here in Washing- 
ton, and at Mount Vernon, the historic association growing out of the 
Russian Oak of George Sumner which, as described in the memoir — 

was a gift, simple and natui-al, accompanied by no courtly parade, whose 
whole worth consisted in its association with the memory of Washington ; 

to which I might add : And was accepted by an Imperial Sovereign 
who, with his successors and people, have shown a friendship for our 
Government and its people which should never be forgotten. On page 
195 of the memoir, it is stated — 

The acorns had been carefully planted near the siuiimer palace, while, 
as a mark of special consideration, a position had been selected for it on 
the grounds where still stands the cottage once occupied by Peter the Great, 
and where it would be watched over with constant care ; 

the actual fact being that the tree above referred to that grew from this 
acorn is on Czarina Island, as above stated, and is not anywhere near 
the cottage of Peter the Great, which is on the banks of the Neva di- 
rectly opposite the principal part of the City of St. Petersburg, and near 
the cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul. 

Yours very truly, 

E. A. Hitchcock. 



W34 













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